Starring Grizzy and Sophie

This is one of my favorite pictures of Sophie. I love how she is sitting here so relaxed. She is my sweet little girl.

Lately I’ve been stressing a bit, because she’s been waking me up in the middle of the night (maybe 2-4 am) and then around 5 am. I can handle the 5 am, but earlier than that is a little tough. She’ll start with these kitten mews and flop on her back to show her belly. I feel so bad because I need to sleep!

She also has been going to the front door (which leads to my building’s hallway) and crying. I let her go out there every once in a while and then I bring her in, but I feel terrible that she doesn’t have a big house to run around in.

I’ve been trying to keep her active with toys and exercise, but part of me feels like I’m failing as a cat mom. 😦

I did buy some cat shelves, which are in the process of being put up (getting the right screws has been a challenge). Maybe I should look into one of those floor-to-ceiling cat trees and make myself totally un-dateable, har har. Sophie isn’t such a fan of the smaller cat tree I have, but lately she’s been trying to climb door frames fairly often. I’ve also seen cat climbers that hang on the backs of doors–anyone have experience with those?

Any other suggestions? Maybe a new brother or sister for G and S? (I’ve looked, but so far no matches.) I want to make sure my baby girl is happy!

The past few months I’ve been redoing my space. Rearranging stuff, getting rid of stuff, adding things I really like and use.

One thing I really enjoy is feeding the birds. A few weeks ago, I bit the bullet and bought a giant bag of birdseed, as well as a plastic bin in which to keep it. (We’ve got a lot of feathered visitors!) The cats have enjoyed having another item to climb and sit on. 🙂

This weekend I finally got a second bin, for sunflower seeds, which the rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks seem to prefer.

Today I was tickled to see *both* cats found a bin to perch on. Love the multiple uses for the bins!

We haz seeds!

The seeds also make me think of a show I was listening to, I think it was Marketplace Weekend. The topic was guilty pleasures that people spend money on. They played clips of two people in particular.

One guy sounded pretty obnoxious. He made it clear that he HAD to have top-of-the-line gourmet coffee and grass-fed butter. His tone was very rude and condescending. I felt like he looked down on anyone who drank Folgers!

Then they had a woman, who sounded kind of tired and sad, but pleasant. She talked about going through graduate school and said feeding the birds gave her such joy. And if she had to have PB&J’s some days, so she could afford bird seed, so be it.

The financial person who listened to both calls gave the coffee-and-grass-fed-butter guy the proverbial high-five, while the bird seed lady? Oh my word, the financial person practically excoriated her. Said she obviously had some problems, as in, depression.

The host caught the tone, too, and made a comment about “Well, hey, she sounds like she might be lonely, and the birds are comforting her! They make her happy!”

Financial person was NOT having it, like, “Uh, NO, that woman is bonkers. I mean, seeds?” I was upset, and still am. It ticks me off because how do we know what the coffee-and-butter guy’s budget is? How do we know what kind of lifestyle he comes from (e.g., trust fund kid)? How do we know if he’s got credit card bills up the wazoo and pays for his coffee and butter with credit?

And what if the birdseed lady has managed her money wisely, paid for school with cash, and is now on a self-imposed strict budget until she gets her post-graduation dream job?

I have a student loan (bah) and I am trying to save for a house down payment; so basically, I’m not rolling in the dough, although I make a decent living. I’m frugal. But even in my frugality, I am willing to set aside some money each month for birdseed. Truthfully, it doesn’t cost that much, but the joy it brings me is immeasurable. 🙂

I’m sure Sophie and Grizzy were thinking their mom finally got with the 21st century. Or at least, that’s how I felt. I had planned on getting a Litter Genie and then I made an unplanned trip to the pet supplies store and they were on sale! So I came home with one.

You can see the cats were much more interested in the packaging than the genie itself.

So far it’s been working out nicely. It cuts down on the daily-dumpster trips, which is nice. I’m sure it’ll be even more nice when it’s freezing outside!

Unrelated, thank you for the good vibes yesterday! I am hoping to hear back soon, and then I should be able to give more info.

On a different note, I can say that I’m going to meet with some folks from a local humane society about volunteering! I’m very excited, as I’ve been wanting to find a volunteer opportunity that fit my schedule. I think this could be a good match. 🙂

Well, not like there’s been much action here as of late, but I have some good news/request. I could use your prayers/well wishes/positive thoughts today. A cool opportunity has come my way and I’ll be meeting with some people later, so I could use any good mojo you can send my way.